Tuesday, December 30, 2014

I received this book as an ARC for an honest review. When I first got this book I was unsure how I would feel about the story. This book is a mix between 1940's gangsters and modern day technology.

When we first start this book we see Tommy doing what he was trained to do torturing a man who according to Jack has ratted on the family. Tommy is an enforcer in the family but what he really wants is to be a made man. The biggest problem with Tommy he feel no emotion when he works which means he can do very cruel and sadistic things without a second though. His only weakness, the only thing to make him feel something Melanie.

Melanie is a woman who wanted to go to college but knew that she couldn't because she had to help out her aging father in his business. You see Melanie's father own's a strip club and because he has health problems he can not see to the day to day operations of the club. So Melanie agreed to step in an be manager of the club so her father didn't have the extra stress. The problem she has her father partnered with the mob and she has to deal with them. Especially Tommy hitting on her every-time they are there.

The thing neither of them know is the feelings that each of them are feeling if either said something would realize the other person is feeling it too. But no they push each other instead. However when the feds go after Melanie and tell her to either flip on the mob or go to jail she knows she is looking at a no win situation. When she agrees to testify that is when Tommy has to persuade her to change her mind and her testimony before it is to late for the family.

The question for this book is can a girl who has had to sacrifice so much finally find love? Can the boy who feels almost nothing find true love with the woman who makes him feel something?I would recommend this book it is really good story there are some physical torture in this book as well as psychological so if this is offensive to you be warned.

I received this book as an ARC for an honest review. When I first got this book I was unsure how I would feel about the story. However upon reading this story it went beyond my expectations.

When we start out this book Slade is being recruited for a job. He tells the person on the other end that this is his last job and he will do this but never to call him again. Little did he know how much this last job would affect him.

The next chapter brings us to Joss and how she is waking up after remembering what has happened earlier in the evening. You see she was kidnapped from her own bed and knocked unconscious and who would do something so horrible to her. Well that would be her godfather Bruce. Bruce needs a password from her father but he refuses to give it him. The problem with this is not only does he kidnap his goddaughter but he threatens her with what she treasures most her hands. Joss is a concert pianist and when her godfather threatens to break her fingers she is more scared than she has ever been in her life. Just in the nick of time though one of her captors saves her but this just opens her up to many more problems.

This book has so many twists and turns that I want to tell you all about but as a reader I feel like you should find them out for yourself not me just telling you about the. I will tell you from the first page to the very end of this book this story will grab you and not let go. This book is amazing on so many levels it needs to be on everyone's must read list.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

I am a huge fan of this series and this story is no exception to this. This is Mike and Kathleen's story. We meet Mike in Until November story, Mike is November's father and the one she runs to when she is attacked in New York. Mike is the one who opens his arms to her and lets her know that even though her mom kept her from him all these years both him and his side of the family love her with all their heart. Mike however after going through this with November is not looking to get married again and give another woman this kind of power over him again. When the story opens up Mike sees the woman he had a crush on in high school back in town. He still finds her very attractive and would love to get together with her. Kathleen has gone through her share of hardships as well since she left high school. She also had a crush on Mike but did not think he felt the same way. Now she is recently divorced and back in town with a teenage son whom she is hoping the small town living will give him some guidance and direction. This couple will not have all smooth sailing but what of these couples has. In this book you will revisit all of the Mason boys (Asher, Trevor, Cash, & Nico) as well as their father and find out what they are all up to now. This book can be read as a stand alone but will dive away secrets if you have not read the others first. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone but I would recommend you reading it after the others in this series. This is meant as a short story that gives you Mike's story as well as catching up with all the guys.

Remember when you couldn't get enough of Brook & Remy well Pandora and Mackenna will have you giving them a run for their money. I was and am still addicted to Brook and Remy's stories but there is something about Pandora & Mackenna's story that will remind you of why people fall in love in the first place. In this story we find out why Pandora is such a downer on love. Mackenna and Pandora are high school sweethearts but something happened that drive the young lovers apart and it comes down to both of them believe something about that time that the other did not do. Pandora believes she was left on the day they were to run away together but there were other reasons for why that day happened like that. We also find out more about beliefs that Mackenna had about them during that time that he is still holding onto till this day. There are other twists that will make you says not way in this story and it will give you a whole new understanding of Pandora than you ever had before. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. It is a story that makes you want to show the person you love just what it means to be in love and be loved by that special someone. If you have not read this series this book can be read as a stand alone but there will be secrets revealed from the other stories if you read this one first. I would recommend this to be on everyone's must read list.

I received this book as an ARC for an honest review. This book is absolutely amazing every time I thought I might be at the end because it has hit what seemed to be the climate of the story it just went higher.

This is the story of Jordan or Brass as he is called by the MC (Saffron's Brother that we met in an earlier book) and Missy. In the beginning of this book Missy and her sister Jackie are sitting at their father's side in the hospital as it is the very end of his life. He as been battling cancer and he is about to take his last breath's. As he is just about to die he tells Missy about some money that he left in the basement to make sure both she and her year old sister are taken care of. Missy does not know what to make of this and thinks the meds have made him dilutional. Meanwhile Brass is just gearing up to go after said money by order of his president Fang. When he meets up with Missy there is just something about her that calls to him and tells him he must protect her.

Little do Missy and Brass know all the trouble they will have to go through before there will even be a chance at a Happy ending. Missy will have to fight to figure out who she is and what she wants not only for herself but as a guardian to her sister. She will also have to deal with a 14 year old girl who will have so much to deal with that she will stop being a child and become a woman overnight, much to her sister's dismay. Brass will need to deal with the attraction of a woman whom he wants to claim but after what his mother went through because of some rogue Grizzle's it needs to be the woman's choice, as well as problems with his club as well.

This book will have you walking around with the book doing other things because you just can't put it down you want this all to work out for them all as well as the other people that are introduced in this story. I want to tell you all the twists and turns that occur but as a reader and reviewer I feel the reader should find them out for themselves. My suggestion get this book. It need to be on everyone's must read list. This book can be read as a stand alone but there are some references in it that if you have not read the other books will not make sense. This will not effect the overall story-line though. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

holy cow is this book good. This is Sy and Holly's book, we read how some of their relationship has gone by reading it in Incandescent. There are parts of it that are only told in this story liked how did Holly end up pregnant? What is the problem with one another? What happens with them at Kadence's birthday party?

There are many questions that need to be answered and you get those answer plus more. Like why is Sy so quite and withdrawn with everyone? How did he come to join the Knights Rebels MC? There is so much to Sy that you just want to wrap him up and make him all better.

This book will grab you from the first word and not let go to the very end. There are so many parts I want to tell you about but don't want to give away any of the secrets of what happens in the story. I will say that this is a must own book. It can be read as a stand alone and does not need to be read after Incandescent. This is however and amazing book that I would recommend to anyone and everyone.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

I am a huge fan of this series and ordered this book as soon as I could. In this book we have some of the same story as in picture perfect but in this one we get Noah's side of the story as well as some of the things that happened to him in those times when he wasn't with Tweet. We also get to see how finding out about her cancer affected him and what changes he was making in his own life during that time.

Over all this book affected me as much as Present Perfect. This author writes both sides of these people's story with an emotional depth that you don't find in many books. Even if you have read this story in Present Perfect it will be like you are reading it for the first time. You will be hooked all over again. If you have not purchased this book because you worry about it just being a retelling don't this is an amazing book that has some of the same parts to this book that were in the first book but this story is all it's own. This is a must own book you will not be disappointed.

Devil's Lair is on their first world-wide tour.
Taking their antics across Europe, Asia, and Australia proves to be hilarious,
exhausting, and very chaotic. Most of the time they feel completely out of
their element, and they're right. Tequila, groupies and a endless supply of
condoms are replaced with...well, with a whole lot of different.

Join them on their 'Blow Our Minds World Tour'
and accept this V.I.P. pass to a behind the scenes look at Devil's Lair as they
travel the globe wreaking rock star havoc

Amazon Best Selling Author ~A.M. Madden's debut novel is Back-up, the first
in The Back-Up Series. The series includes Back-Up, Front & Center, Encore
and Backstage.

A.M. Madden is a wife, a mother, an avid reader
of romance novels and now an author. In Back-up she aspired to create a fun,
sexy, realistic romantic story. She wanted to create characters that the reader
could relate to and feel as if they knew personally. A self-proclaimed hopeless
romantic, she loves getting lost in a good book. She also uses every free
moment of her time writing, while raising teenage boys.

I received this book as an ARC for an honest review. When I got this book I had not really been paying attention to the teasers other bloggers has put out so I had no idea what this book would be about. Part of me is glad about that point because I had not gotten any tidbits to give anything away. This book starts out with a bang and keeps you on a ride till the very last word.

This book starts out with Charlotte going in for brain surgery because she has a tumor at the base of her skull. There is so much she wants but is unable to say it because 1) she feels like no one is listening to her & 2) she thinks that they feel she is to young to make her own decisions. In this book we also meet Nick and Nate Jackson they are like brothers to her but with Nate she has feelings that aren't so sisterly.

The part that really hooked me was in chapter 1 we hear Charlotte's feelings on how things are right before surgery in chapter 2 there are only 4 words and it sums up how Nate feels Worst. F******g. Day. Ever. This is his thought and the only words in this chapter at this point I knew this was going to be an amazing story full of ups and downs. This is a story that will grab you emotionally and not let go.

I am not big on 5 star reviews but this one deserved it and more. This book is amazing and there are so many things that happen in it that I want to tell you about but as a reader and reviewer I believe in letting a reader experience a book for themselves. This book needs to be on everyone's must read list. It is so incredible that you will not be sorry that you own it. My recommendation buy it immediately and read it as soon as you can trust me you will not be sorry.

Charlotte and Nathan were supposed to be forever. They
grew up together. Their families were intertwined. Charlotte was Nathan's first
love. Nathan was Charlotte's first everything.

Until they weren't.

How do you hold on to the person you know in your heart
you are supposed to be with when everything and everyone in the universe is
telling you it's over?

How many times does a heart break?

When is enough…..enough?

How long is forever?

EXCERPT

But when I close my eyes, I can see him—and me. I can see me
pressed up against the mirror in the bathroom, my hands making starfish prints
as I brace myself against his thrusts. I can hear his harsh breathing, his
commands to come, come now, Charlotte. There was that passage of time that felt
endless when he was between my legs, licking me softly and leisurely as if
there wasn’t anything in this world that gave him more pleasure than helping me
find my own. I touch myself, but it’s useless. My body wants one thing: Nathan
Jackson.

I’m on fire and the ache of want is so acute it’s like a
knife in my chest. I’ve had multiple surgeries, chemo treatments, radiation but
that’s nothing compared to what I feel now.

Time and distance had dulled my pain and that my desire and
love for Nathan had actually started to ease only to be stoked into high, hot
flames by his reappearance in my life.

He is the poison and the antidote.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jen
Frederick lives with her husband, child, and one rambunctious dog. She's been reading stories all her life but
never imagined writing one of her own. Jen loves to hear from readers so drop
her a line at jensfrederick@gmail.com.

Sound is
an abstract concept for most people. We spend our lives blocking out the static
in order to focus on what we believe is important. But what if, when the
clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure background noise that you would
give anything to hold on to?

I've always been a fighter. With parents
who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who narrowly
avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life threw at me.
Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from the moment I
met Eliza Reynolds, she was always
mine. I became utterly addicted to her
and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she
had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I
didn’t hear her voice.

You see, meeting the love of my life at
age thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going
deaf at the age of twenty-one.

They both happened anyway.

Now, I'm on the ropes during the toughest
battles of my life.

Fighting for my career.

Fighting the impending silence.

Fighting
for her.

Every
night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves
her.

I think
that's the sound I'll miss the most.

FIGHTING
SILENCE Cover Reveal Excerpt

"That wasn't yours to take
away," he exploded into the otherwise silent night. His words echoed off
the surrounding buildings, each wave slicing me to the quick all over again.
"That was our place. Not
yours." His voice cracked right alongside my heart.

"Yeah, well, there was a lot of
stuff that wasn't yours to take either." I held his gaze, desperately
trying to be strong, but as his eyes grew wide, I whimpered.

His long legs strode forward, stopping
only inches away from me. He was crowding me, but he still leaned in closer to
my face. "There is nothing in this world that was ever more mine than
you," he stated. Though it was the absolute truth, I wished with all my
heart that it were a lie.

"Till," I cried, swiping the
tears from my eyes.

"Why!" he shouted, causing his
muscles to tense under the force. "Goddamn it! I needed that place."

Porch lights flashed on from the
surrounding apartments, illuminating not only the dark but also my rage.

I shoved my hands into his chest.
"What about what I needed? You left! I waited in that fucking apartment
for weeks."

He didn't budge, but my bare feet
slipped, sending me toward the ground. Impossibly fast, Till's hand snaked out
and caught my arm. I didn't let his chivalrous gesture douse my fire. I had six
months’ worth of words to say to the man I was irrevocably in love with.

"You took what you wanted. Then you
left me."

"Doodle," he whispered.

I had been perilously close to the edge
of insanity, and with one single word, he’d pushed me over.

I lost it completely.

Pounding my fists against his chest, I
screamed at the top of my lungs, "It's Eliza! My name is fucking Eliza!
Not Doodle!" I spun to march away, but Till's arms folded around me,
lifting me off my feet to restrain me.

I was miniscule compared to him. There
was no use in fighting, but I still kicked my legs, irrationally desperate to
get away from him—but only because I knew I couldn't keep him for forever.

Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Aly Martinez is a
stay-at-home mom to four crazy kids under the age of five, including a set of
twins. Currently living in South Carolina, she passes what little free time she
has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a
glass of wine at her side.

After some encouragement from her friends, Aly decided to
add “Author” to her ever-growing list of job titles. Five books later, she
shows no signs of slowing. So grab a glass of Chardonnay, or a bottle if you’re
hanging out with Aly, and join her aboard the crazy train she calls life.

Will Julz complete her mission for vengeance against the
Gypsy Brothers? Or is Dornan still one step ahead?

More shocking secrets will come to light and lives will be
lost in this final, devastating instalment of the Gypsy Brothers series.

Chapter One

By Lili
St. Germain

The saddest thing about
betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies.

CHAPTER ONE

“I want my lawyer,” I repeat for the
hundredth time.

There are two CIA agents in front of me,
and they’re playing a very cheesy rendition of good cop / bad cop.

We’ve been at this for hours. Boss Bitch
— Agent Dunn, as she’s since told me — on one side, and her completely dumb but
cute male offsider, Agent Brennan, on the other. In my head, to pass the hours,
I’ve nicknamed them Agent Bitch and Agent Dumbass. I sit across from them, my
hands in my lap, heavy metal cuffs weighing them down.

My throat is dry, my tongue parched.
Agent Dumbass has a fresh can of Coke in front of him, and I can see the tiny
beads of condensation running down the sides. I want it. I want to reach over
and grab the can. I don’t even need to drink what’s inside. I’ll settle for the
condensation making its lazy descent down the side of the bright red can and
onto the dusty Formica table that separates me from them.

“Let’s try this again,” the female cop
says, tucking a loose blonde hair behind her ear. The rest is up in a severe
bun that reminds me of a matronly grandmother, even though this woman only
looks about thirty. She’s got a slight southern inflection that reminds me of
Elliot’s grandma.

I don’t reply, waiting for whatever it is
she plans on doing next. Her next big thought, her latest overdone gesture, to
try and convince me that I should spill all of my dirty secrets onto this table
between us. So far she’s used threats against Jase, a plea deal that would
grant me immunity, and long stretches of silence.

None of that will break me. I’ve been
tortured by Dornan fucking Ross. This woman’s going to have to try a lot
harder, or maybe get out some pliers and start yanking my teeth out of my
mouth, before I’ll give her a single damned thing.

She snatches up a manila folder and opens
it, handing a photograph to her male offsider. “Stick these up,” she barks at
him, and he moves slowly, ripping a section of blue-tack from a large blue ball
of the stuff that must live permanently on the wall to my left. I watch, just
slightly interested as to what they’re going to try and scare me with.

They don’t disappoint. As I watch them
pin 5x7 photographs to the wall, I can’t help but feel some sense of
satisfaction for the lives that ended at my hands. I have to remain impassive
though, so I tamp down the gloating grin that wants to spread across my face
and settle for my resting bitch face instead.

Dunn peeks at me from the corner of her
eye, and I return her gaze impassively. She might think she can get under my
skin, but I grew up in the Gypsy Brothers MC for shit’s sake. I know how to
hold out in front of a cop.

“Chad Ross,” Dunn says, smoothing her
pants as she stands up and circles the table, coming to stand next to the
photographs her partner is sticking up in a haphazard fashion. I wait for her
to reach out and straighten them. Boom. Three seconds later, she does just
that, making sure all of the photos line up.

“Chad Ross was poisoned,” she continues,
tapping one manicured fingernail against the photo of his bloated death face.

“Looks nasty,” I reply.

“It’s a nasty way to die,” Dunn says,
peering at me. “The killer added pure methamphetamine to an energy drink he
later consumed. He was probably dead before he hit the ground.”

He wasn’t. He suffered. Thankfully.

“And you’re showing me this why?” I ask,
studying my own nails, bitten down to the quick. I never was a girly girl. It’s
not easy to keep your nails tidy when you’re constantly trying to claw your way
back from death.

Dunn looks at me pointedly before jabbing
her fingernail towards the second photo. Ahhh, yes. Maxi in all his naked,
bloody glory. His face is a mess from the coke I shoved underneath his nose,
the coke laced with strychnine that made blood gush from his nose like warm
water from a faucet. I still remember the way his blood felt on my hands. How
surreal everything was, bright and garish, as my skull burned with a small
amount of the poisoned coke I’d snorted myself.

How I’d nearly died in my quest to kill
him.

How it was so worth the risk to see the
look on his smarmy fucking face, when I whispered in his ear who I really was
and sat back on his lap to watch the fury rise in his cheeks.

As he realized a black widow was the one
who’d just fed him his last meal of poison and cocaine.

I glance at Agent Dunn, clearing my
throat and attempting to look bored.

“Strychnine-laced cocaine,” she says. “In
fact, the same thing you were admitted to hospital for that very night. Jason
Ross brought you in to emergency room. They said you almost died.”

“It was a hell of a night,” I reply
curtly. “My nose still bleeds just thinking about it.”

She raises her eyebrows in disbelief, and
in that moment I have no doubt that she’s cataloguing me as a sociopath or
similar.

“Can I ask you a question?” I say
suddenly.

“Shoot,” Dunn responds.

I reach my hand out slowly, methodically
and take hers, a bold move. She could pepper spray me, shoot me. You’re not
supposed to touch the interrogators. But she’s ballsy enough that she doesn’t
want to take her hand away, even as I watch her flinch minutely.

“How do you keep your nails so pretty?” I
ask sweetly, the saccharine in my voice not reaching the cold death stare I
give her. I hold up my other hand. “Mine are hopeless. You spend much time in
the field, Agent Dunn?”

She takes her hand away, and I let my own
cuffed hands fall back into my lap. I know her skin must be crawling from my
touch.

I hope the feeling stays there for a long
time. She should not have fucked with me.

“I take good care of myself, Miss
Portland,” she says briskly. “Which is more than I can say for you.”

“My child died,” I say blankly. “Physical
appearance isn’t on the top of my priority list right now.”

She points to the third photograph, which
is… hell, I’ve got no idea what that is. I tilt my head, trying to figure out
what I’m looking at.

“It’s a leg,” Dunn supplies.

“Ohhh,” I say, nodding. “Thanks.”

It is indeed a leg, or at least part of
one. Charred and black, with spots of unmarred flesh and blood still peeking
through in sections. Huh. I wonder who it belonged to.

“Two Ross brothers were killed in an
explosion. Somebody put homemade bombs in their fuel tanks, can you believe
that?”

I shrug. “Sounds like they must have had
it coming.”

Dunn points to the final photos, and a
cloying heat bleeds up my chest and neck as I remember those three months of
horror and torture I endured at Dornan’s hands before I was broken out. The way
Dornan’s father Emilio flew backwards with a meaty thump as the top of his head
was blown clean off, blood and brains flying everywhere. Mickey’s look of
horror that didn’t fade after the bullet entered his face, such a satisfying
end for men whose only fault in death was that their ends were much too swift.
I imagine how much more satisfying it would have been to hang them by their
feet and burn their eyes out with cigarettes and blowtorches, or pull their
teeth out with rusty pliers, one by one.

That would have been much more fitting
for the men who tried to destroy me, the same men who murdered my father.

Still… they’re dead, and that’s better
than them being alive.

“That’s got to give you a headache,” I
joke, referring to the last two pictures. The blood and gore have no effect on
me. My stomach is made of iron after the atrocities I’ve seen, after all that
I’ve endured. If this bitch wants to rattle my cage, she’s going to have to try
harder.

“And then we have Jimmy,” she says,
sticking one last photograph to the wall. Jimmy’s face, still frozen in shock,
the trail of blood from his temple where Jase shot him barely noticeable in the
extreme close-up.

Dunn frowns so hard it looks like she’s
about to burst a blood vessel.

“Here’s the thing,” she says, throwing a
stack of photographs in front of me. “We’ve got you. We have your DNA on the
first two victims, and motive. We’ve got probable cause to take you to trial.”

I sift through them, suppressing a
twisted smile as I see what happened to Jazz and Ant after they bit the big one
when bombs in their motorcycle fuel tanks exploded, ripping them to pieces. It
isn’t pretty, what became of them. But to me, it’s beautiful.

I drop the photographs on the table and
lean back in the hard metal chair I’ve been sitting on for the past five hours.

“These people are — were — like family to
me. Don’t you think it’s a little tacky showing me all of this? I’m still
grieving for these boys. They were like brothers to me.”

Agent Dunn actually rolls her eyes at me.
At least she’s got some spunk somewhere in there. “Give it a rest, Miss
Portland,” she says impatiently. “You’ve got more motive than anyone else, and
no alibi for any of these murders.”

“Motive?” I ask sweetly. “And what might
that be?”

Agent Dunn hesitates. Go on, I think. Say it. They raped me until they
thought I was dead. The murdered my father, and you want to arrest me? Say it.

“I’m not authorized to talk with you
about an active investigation,” Dunn says finally. “But I really think you
should start talking, Miss Portland.”

Dunn’s beady eyes practically wig out of
her head. She studies me for a moment, probably to see if I’m telling the
truth, and I stare right back at her. If she wanted a wallflower who’d stare at
the floor, she arrested the wrong girl.

After a beat, she stands up, turns and
bustles out of the room. I divert my attention to Agent Dumbass, who looks like
he’s about to fall asleep in his chair.

“I’ll make a full confession,” I say, “if
you give me that.” I point to the coke can and he eyes it dubiously. After a
pause, he slides the can over to me with one finger. With a smile, I pick up
the can between my cuffed hands and take a long drink.

The fizzy liquid burns on the way down my
throat, but it’s delicious. I drink as much as I can before Agent Bitch
returns, setting it back down on the table and smiling at Dumbass. I slide the
can back towards him with a wink. Let him think we’re friends. Let him think
I’m just a silly young girl who couldn’t possibly hurt anyone. He looks
surprised, taking the can back as Agent Bitch walks back into the room.

She looks between me, the can and the
goofy look on Agent Dumbass’s face and shakes her head.

Sliding into her seat, she drops a yellow
legal pad on the table between us as she addresses Dumbass.

“She killed a man by poisoning his drink
with pure meth,” she says to her partner. “You sure you want that back?”

“Allegedly,” I add.

The oaf stares at the can for a few
seconds. Finally, he pushes it back in my direction with an embarrassed look.

In the past five hours or so since I was
unceremoniously dumped in this interrogation room, I’ve gone through the whole
gamut of emotions. Fear. Shock. Despair. Now, I’m at anger. Anger that bubbles
within me. Anger that is thinly disguised as apathy to these two morons.

Dunn drops a blue Bic pen on the legal
pad and pushes it over to me. I hold up my cuffed wrists helplessly.

“I can’t write with these things on,” I
say.

Dunn gives me the filthiest look before
nodding at Dumbass. He stands and circles around to me, removing my cuffs
before returning to his spot.

I WANT A
LAWYER. I write
it as obnoxiously large as I can, underlining the word LAWYER three times.

Agent Bitch’s smile disappears, replaced
by a thin line of contempt at her mouth. I grin. Good luck getting those cuffs
back on me, motherfucker. I sit back in my seat and snatch up the Coke,
draining the rest of the can before they think to take it from me.

“We can play this game for however long
you want, Miss Portland,” she says curtly, fiddling with the stack of crime
scene photographs in front of her. I smile.

“I’ve got all day,” I say sweetly, even
though I really, really don’t. Dornan has Elliot’s daughter and ex-girlfriend,
and possibly Elliot himself, and Jase and I have twenty-four hours to meet him
and get the girls out of danger before he kills them. At least, that’s what I’m
assuming he plans to do to them. I can’t even comprehend what else he might be
planning to do to those poor girls to get back at us.

Agent Dunn shakes her head one last time,
gathering up the files and stalking towards the door. “I’ll give you some time
to think about your position,” she says.

“Isn’t this illegal?” I call out to her.
“I’m an American citizen. I have the right to an attorney. Get me a goddamn
lawyer!”

Really, I just need a lawyer to post bail
so I can get the hell out of here. Not that I’m sure I’d actually be bailed
out, but I need something, and talking to these two is proving fruitless. A
cold panic is building up inside my stomach, in the hollow space where my baby
once lived and died.

God, it’s still so raw, so vicious when
the memory of our tiny little baby takes hold and squeezes me. Sometimes,
selfishly, I wish I could forget about her, because losing her has cursed me
with more pain than I could ever imagine.

If I had any remnants of doubt about
killing Dornan before? They’re gone, bled from me in the moments after our
daughter was born, still and dead, in the early hours of the morning when the
world was still dark.

He took her from me. From us. And I
cannot rest until he’s dead and buried, a rotting corpse in the cold ground, a
memory and nothing more.

Dornan Ross needs to burn for the things
he’s done.

Agent Dumbass follows his partner out of
the room and pulls the door shut. I immediately stand up and go to the door,
testing the handle. Locked from the outside. Of course. I go back to my chair,
collecting the pen someone so thoughtfully left for me and shoving it into my
pocket. You know, just in case I need to stab somebody sometime soon.

Which, as it turns out, is sooner than
I’d anticipated.

About an hour later, Agent Bitch sticks
her head back into the room. “Your lawyer’s on the way,” she says, closing the
door behind her again.

This could be anyone. A cop posing as a
lawyer to get a confession on tape. A hit man, sent by the Gypsy Brothers or
the Cartel. I’m like a sitting duck in here, and I don’t like it one tiny bit.

But what greets me isn’t any of those
things.

It’s so much worse.

I don’t move an inch as the door swings
open and he walks into the room. Dressed in a suit I’ve seen before, clutching
a black leather briefcase by his side. He looks positively fucking amused.

“Well,” I say bitterly, “They’ll let any
motherfucker take the bar these days, won’t they?”

Lili writes dark romance, suspense and paranormal stories.
Her serial novel, Seven Sons, was released in early 2014, with the following
books in the series to be released in quick succession. Lili quit corporate
life to focus on writing and so far is loving every minute of it. Her other
loves in life include her gorgeous husband and beautiful daughter, good coffee,
Tarantino movies and spending hours on Pinterest.